Rising Realty Partners Converts Impact Investing Strategy into Action and Savings with Gridium's Machine Learning Analytics

SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Gridium announced today that its technology is helping Rising Realty Partners (Rising) proactively manage anonymous energy leaks in the portfolio's building operations data, lower its buildings' carbon footprints while engaging tenants in sustainability initiatives, and also identify potential billing credits and electric utility rate optimization opportunities. Results already include a $55,000 rate optimization across four electric meters at a Rising-managed office property in southern California.

Deploying the Gridium software demonstrates Rising's commitment to impact investing – Rising is the first company to leverage Gridium's new Tenant Display Module, where a streamlined view of the building's energy use is embedded in the lobby display for tenant interaction.

Tenants Value Visible Progress on Shared Sustainability Goals

"We are committed to positively impacting the built environment—the buildings we operate and the spaces we provide to and share with tenants. It's also important for our tenants to understand our energy savings which is possible with our new lobby display," said Kayce Hawk, Senior Vice President of Property Services at Rising."

According to ENERGY STAR, "data is the foundation of efficiency" and achieving top-level performance in a commercial office building requires collaboration with tenants. Measuring the building's energy performance and sharing it with tenants in the right form will foster action on the building's sustainability targets.

Gridium technology analyzes utility smart meter data to spot anomalous energy leaks, lower peak demand charges, identify optimal utility rates, and forecast future energy use and budgets. In many cases, this means connecting to a building's smart meter data for its electricity, natural gas, and/or water use. For buildings that have online access to their utility smart meter data, deploying Gridium does not require any installations in the building. In utility service territories where smart meter data is not available, off-the-shelf submeters allow an operating team access to their building's real-time energy data.

"Our philosophy is that impact creates value. Gridium's advanced data analytics has already identified $0.20/sf in rate savings—which is what we look for in technological investments that provide value to our tenants and investors." said Christopher Rising, Co-Founder and CEO at Rising.

By calculating the building's utility bill determinants, Gridium creates a synthetic utility bill under each possible utility rate, with bankable accuracy for each bill's demand and use line item. Potential scenarios span utility rates with higher demand charges in exchange for lower usage charges, lower demand charges for higher usage charges, and other variants along that spectrum.

"Partnering with the team at Rising is delightful, as they've demonstrated a real commitment to achieving the sustainability goals that come from the firm's focus on impact investing," said Boyd Arnold, Senior Account Manager at Gridium. "Buildings are key to the energy transition and it's a privilege to work with a firm like Rising, given its dedication to positive and sustainable changes and to sharing those successes with tenants and the building's broader community."

Complex Energy Costs Cloud the Path Through the Energy Transition

"Building operators are facing a myriad of energy management challenges today, from pricey peak demand charges to complex utility rate decisions made trickier by the solar duck curve and shifting time-of-use rate periods," said Tom Arnold, CEO at Gridium. "Rising has risen to this challenge in a real way and we're here to help. It's encouraging to see the firm deliver more sustainable built environments for tenants."

Responsive building operations, demand-side energy management, and distributed energy resources all have a bigger role to play as the Grid adapts to climate change and as the complexity of energy management logic shifts from the utility to the building operations team. In addition to streamlining the management decision around what electricity tariff to select, Gridium's technology also automatically quantifies savings with every new bill under the new utility rate. These Measurement & Verification routines can also be applied to other energy efficiency projects, including distributed energy resource investments, LED retrofits, and pneumatic-to-ddc upgrades.

About Gridium Inc.

Buildings use Gridium to navigate the energy transition by improving efficiency, financing retrofits, and streamlining operations. All told, the company directly serves about 300 million square feet of buildings across the United States, and with Gridium, these buildings save millions of dollars on electricity, gas, and water utility bills, extend the useful lives of their assets, and data-drive their sustainable operations.

About Rising Realty Partners

Rising Realty Partners is a family-owned, Los Angeles-based, vertically-integrated real estate investment and operating platform specializing in creating world-class commercial properties. With more than 5 million square feet under management, Rising's approach to real estate investing and operating focuses on advancing environmental, technological, and social impacts. Visit risingrp.com to learn more.

Media Contact

Boyd Arnold, Gridium, +1 (855) 900-4736 Ext: 2, [email protected]

SOURCE Gridium